Republican lawmakers at the State Capitol are pushing a bill that would provide free access to menstrual products.
The measure would require the California Department of Public Health to work with local nonprofits to provide women farmworkers with menstrual hygiene supplies free of cost.
Republican Assemblymember Jeff Gonzalez represents Coachella and introduced the bill.
"No woman should have to choose between her health, her dignity, and her paycheck."
Bella Sanchez, whose mother worked in agricultural fields, says schools and some workplaces already provide free pads and tampons.
"But farmworker women, the women who work the land, who work in landscaping, who labor outdoors in remote, rural areas, they were left out. They remain invisible."
The bill would require the state to prioritize rural agricultural communities with higher poverty rates. It’s pending in the Assembly Health Committee.